U.S. Pat. No. 5,784,850, granted Jul. 28, 1998, to William L. Elderson, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,021,618, granted Feb. 8, 2000, to William L. Elderson, show prior art framing that includes a bracing member extending horizontally through openings in the webs of sheet metal studs. Some walls need to be braced better than other walls, e.g. walls that are subjected to high wind loads. A known way of bracing these walls is to attach diagonal sheet metal straps to the flanges of the studs on one or both sides of the wall. Wall board is installed over the straps. A problem with this practice is that the straps distort the wall board enough that it is no longer planar and this can be seen. An object of the present invention is to provide a bracing system for a framing wall comprising diagonal braces which are positioned between the studs so that exterior straps and the distortion to the wall board that they cause are eliminated.
There is a need for an improved way of bracing a framing wall without the use of openings in the webs of the studs or straps on the outsides of the studs. The principal object of the present invention is to meet this need.